Nose Pin

I do not remember at what point in life I became interested in nose pins. Nose pins are traditionally worn by women of certain communities as signs of being married. It’s an important part of wedding attire of many communities, especially, in rural areas.  Though not compulsory, girls get their noses pierced at an early age in line with family custom. But definitely it’s a beautiful ethnic ware.

Noone in our family wears a nose pin. So getting my nose pierced never happened. It was very late, I guess in my late twenties, when I became more and more aware of my fondness for this adornment but it was too late for piercing. The pain to be endured in the process deterred me from going ahead. But I would often talk about  it whenever I visited jewellery shops. The counter girls, in turn,  encouraged me to wear one assuring that the piercing would be painless and done in minutes.. But I could never muster enough courage…

In India, girls get their earlobes and nose pierced at a very young age when the skin is soft and thin. As one grows older the piercing becomes more and more painful because of thickening of the lobes and nasal walls. In certain communities the piercing is a ceremonial process. I do not know how the piercing is done now. When we were small  the process was long drawn and dreadful.

Our neighborhood doctor’s widowed sister was the go to person for such minor invasive procedures. She was a nurse. Many stories revolved around how she got widowed and came to live with her brother. Those aside, she was a gruff woman hardened by life. The two-staged earlobes piercing  was done by her. At first the lobes were pierced with sterilized needles and a black thread was tied through  the holes till they became fit for holding a thin pair of earrings, preferably of gold, as gold did not cause sceptic. In certain cases, instead of the black thread  miniscule neem sticks were shoved inside the tiny holes  till it was time to wear the ring. To avoid  puss formation  turmeric and mustard oil paste was applied regularly on the earlobes which turned a hideous yellow in colour signifying that the girl had attained the age and undergone the piercing process. There was no fixed age for piercing. It depended on how eager the child was to wear the jewellery and how particular the mother was to get her child through the pain. Subsequently, the thin earrings would get replaced by thicker versions or studs (tops as called colloquially) as per the financial strength of the earning parent.

In my case, as it happens so often, the hole turned out to be crooked. A child is supposed to sit still during the piercing. I must have squirmed a bit crying out in pain. So the needle inadvertently cut through a nerve or vein, I do not exactly remember which. As a result, one lobe had to be re-pierced. In short, it was a nightmare ! But mother said it had to be done.

Nowadays, multiple piercing of ears and nose are in vogue. For me once was enough as it made me go through the ordeal twice , no thrice. Once the holes got blocked due to dust as I had ” kept them open” for long (which meant not wearing the earrings).

After having endured all the trauma associated with piercing, I never went without earrings. Till now I cannot wear very heavy  ones or artificial stuffs as my ears cannot hold them for long and  develop allergic reactions to metals. Understandably, the dread of piercing, which will always remain fresh in my mind, prevented me from getting my nose pierced though I craved for a diamond nose pin all along.

However, last week I had to visit the jewellers. In our country, every region has their respective, conventional and distinct patterns of jewellery. Therefore, every community prefers their own jewellers. Goldsmiths in Bengal turn out intricate and beautiful patterns with lesser amount of gold while in the Northern, Southern and Western parts of the country, the emphasis is on weight (of gold) in jewellery. Our jeweller has his shop thirty kilometres away from my residence in the Southern part of the city. The commuting time is one to two hours depending on traffic.

This time I went alone. It took me less than half an hour to finish my dealings. The shop owner is a good salesman too. On my mentioning of a nose pin, as is now almost customary of me, he quickly took out his collection for display and insisted that the piercing would get done in a jiffy without any pain. Half an hour later, a tiny cluster of diamonds was shining on the left side of my nose. Four decades of fear evaporated like vapour. I was surprised by myself. How could I !!!

I was told to return after two days to get it set permanently. In view of the distance I scheduled the second visit  after a fortnight. Way home I felt supremely self conscious. It seemed every commuter was staring at me. That tiny piece felt like a large outgrowth on the face. I am not crazy about fashion and least bothered about overhauling my physical appearance. I valued nose pins for their ethnicity and grandeur. They were a symbol of aristocracy and tradition.

My house help noticed first and marveled at how it suited me. So did a few others in the neighborhood. Noone knew in my family that I had got my nose pierced on an impulse. I hid in the bathroom when my sister came down.

It’s pretty humid now. Working in the kitchen my specs often slides down. Once it got caught with the newly acquired  pin unsettling it. Somehow I managed to put it back. However, the catastrophe occured on the third night.  I must have rubbed my nose in sleep when the pin popped out refusing to set back. I rushed  to my jeweller’s in the afternoon. However, no matter how much they tried the pin was adamant not to go back the preferred route. By that time the fervour of experimentation had left me. I gave up on  the pin.

So much so tor a short-lived adventure which taught me not to hanker after what was not meant for me. Thank God I never posted news of  my new found possession online. Otherwise by this time I would have been the butt of many cruel jokes circulating amongst family.

It is a common belief that souls with unfulfilled desires roam restlessly even after leaving the mortal body. As I wish to go straight to heaven without the repeated anguish of rebirths my one nagging  wish to wear a nose pin has been fulfilled by God even if it is for two  days. Now my soul will not frequent the earth’s atmosphere or the solar system, whichever,  thirsting after a glittering rock on the side of the nose. It is said that it takes time for the soul to realise that it does not have a body  any longer after death. Now, it’s free from that agonising realisation as well.

All’s well that ends well.

On that satisfying note I sign off.

Post script : The pic is from Amazon.